Well-Being: Is It Determined by Self-Control?

Introduction

Our inner self is our personal, internal identity. And this identity (personality) is in turn closely related to our personal values and core beliefs. This state of consciousness (or awareness) of our inner self can be achieved through introspection. Thus, it’s called being “self-conscious” (Shelley & Wicklund, 1972). Through this, we can know of our internal states, preferences, resources and intuitions (Daniel Goleman). And this helps promote self-acceptance and self-affirmation.

Well-being & Satisfaction with life

Everyone has different beliefs and values, and this makes each of us unique. Numerous studies have focused on the relations between beliefs and values and subjective well-being and satisfaction with life (Haslam, Whelan, & Bastian, 2009). However, there are studies that show the opposite (Jarden, 2010).

Having only achieved self-consciousness is not enough to determine a person’s well-being. There are cases where a person holds irrational beliefs and values, leading to negative effects on his/her well-being (Schermer, Vernon, Maio, & Jang, 2011).

For example: when you want to be liked by everyone. This is impossible. Since each person is a unique existence, it is fine to encounter conflict between one another. To want to be like by everyone will inevitably lead to disappointments.

Another point we can make is that since most of our inner states is our desires, needs, and wants, the overabundance of these could make a person involve themselves in something immoral or leading to cognitive dissonances.

Self-control & Well-Being

The differences in personality are also related to a person’s well-being. Thus, emotional stability, extraversion, and agreeableness are related to positive mental health. If a person is not stable in controlling their emotions, and has traits of neuroticism, it will then lead to low personal well-being (Lamers, Westerhof, Kovács, & Bohlmeijer, 2012).

This is when self-control comes in. If a person has irrational beliefs, while at the same time lacked self-control (Kocher, 2017) and highly relied on intuition with their dealings (Ward & King, 2018), it might lead to tragedy, causing low personal well-being in the long term. The possession of self-consciousness is not enough. We need to have self-control as well.

You can read our article on how social media negatively affects well-being.